


Chocolate Milk

by 4always7caskett



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-03-12 19:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3353153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4always7caskett/pseuds/4always7caskett
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Through a series of post-Sochi one shots, Tessa and Scott find their way without competitive skating and discover who they are together now over a common liking of chocolate milk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the prologue in what I have planned for a chapter series of little snippets of post-Sochi life for Tessa and Scott. Let me know what you think (: this is my first time writing Tessa and Scott but I'm really excited and open to any suggestions.

Four days, they’ve been back four days and seen each other not once in that time. It sounded like a good idea when it was proposed to them at the beginning of their time in Sochi that the days back home would be strictly for family and no skating. There would be a constant flow of cousins and aunts and uncles at Scott’s house and he and the guys were going to shoot shotguns on the farm again. Tessa and her mom had shopping trips planned, the girls were throwing Tessa a huge party, and her family was having a giant dinner. After months of constant TessaAndScott not the two separate and individuals a four day break seemed irresistible. But when Tessa woke up on the plane descending into Canada, subconsciously burrowing herself farther into Scott’s side in her sleepy state she suddenly thought these four days were about to be a mistake. 

Two days in Scott counted turning to ‘invisible Tessa’ 35 times to tell her something or gage her reaction to a joke one of his cousins told and each time his heart pulled a little bit more for her to be with him. On day three he said 7 inside jokes aloud which made him then look like an idiot with the missing half of the joke not there to laugh. On day four he almost caved and called her to tell her how much he missed her but didn’t, forming a different plan instead. And as fate would be for them, she was already calling him when it was time he picked up the phone call her. 

“Tess?”

“Hey, how’s separation treating you?” she joked, “you must be really enjoying freedom from me.”

“HA!” he choked out. Would she ever understand the only thing that kept him going was seeing her again? “T, if there’s one thing I’ve enjoyed in our separation, it’s thinking about when we get to hang out again.”  
There was a long pause and Scott was sure he had said too much, he always said too much and she never understood how much he meant it every time he did. Suddenly he wasn’t so sure what he was thinking, she might miss him but never in the way he missed her, right? He let out a shaky breath worried she would hang up on him and the separation would be extended. Then like a small, barely there wind on a spring day her voice broke the silence.

“I miss you, you know.” It was silent again for a few moments before she continued with growing confidence in her own voice. “I don’t think you realize how much easier it is to do this stuff with you here. Family is so exhausting, even though I do love them it was good to come home to my own place tonight.” She left the and talk to you because you make everything better out and waited for him to respond.

“You all tuckered out for the night, eh Tutu?” he asked listening to her trying to stifle a yawn on the other end of the phone. 

“Mmhmm,” she hummed back in response, her voice coated with sleep again. 

“Such a shame, I was in the neighborhood just now and saw this guy at your door, kinda resembled that Moir kid who just won silver in Sochi. I guess I can turn around and tell him to not bother ringing the door bell and seeing if you were awake. It’s a shame, looked like he had chocolate milk and a new pair of silly fuzzy pajamas with him.”

“Scott?!” her voice rushed out in a loud whisper. The call disconnected and Tessa straightened from her slouching position on the couch as she listened to the click of the lock turning and the small creak being made by the door opening. The cold winter air flew in and kissed her cheeks, flushing them, or at least that’s what she told herself was causing the dark pink to color her skin. She heard him kick off his shoes by the door and walk to her. She didn’t turn to face him as he came in, frozen in surprise, still holding the phone to her ear and facing the fire place across from her. When the pitter patter of his feet were close, breaking her from her trance, she turned to see him standing in the doorway of her small living room smiling his giant Scott grin at her and holding up a bottle of chocolate milk in one hand and a shopping bag in the other. Throwing the bag to her on the couch he disappeared back into her kitchen. She stood taking the bag and following him into the kitchen smiling as she inspected the silly fleece puppy onesie inside before going in the adjoining bathroom and changing into the ridiculous pajamas he brought for her.

“You don’t have some family or friends or someone you have to be with tonight?” She asked through the cracked bathroom door as he pulled two glasses from the cabinet and filled them before putting the milk into her refrigerator.

“Just my Tess,” he said eyes sparkling in that way only his can, holding the two cups of milk proudly out to her as she reemerged, puppy hood pulled on her head,  
“Always my Tessa.”

Her lips turned up in a smile, she marveled at him, the overwhelming glimmer of his eyes like they’re reflecting all the stars and oceans right back at her. All her hopes and dreams in his care, in the look he cast straight into her heart and she held herself up so not to fall again.  
She took a glass of chocolate milk from him and came to stand in front of him, doing a little pose. He held out a hand to turn for her to spin, faux modeling his gift for him. She found herself laughing that full laugh she hadn’t let out in the past 4 days.

“What do you have planned for tonight, Moir?” she winked at him, bringing their linked hands to rest on his chest between them as she leaned into his body. 

“Hmm, well, I was thinking “Funny Face” is on Netflix and we have plenty of chocolate milk and comfy pajamas for you and such a divine couch to actually enjoy without the stress of training to interfere.”

She pretended to think over his proposition intently before she let a smile break out across her face and pulled him to the living room. They plopped ungracefully down on the couch together and he set up to movie while she made herself comfortable, laying curled on the couch next to him.  
They watched the movie in comfortable silence. Tessa’s head found its way onto Scott’s lap and his hand to her back. He could feel the tension in her muscles, something not quite right, not quite settled in her but he wouldn’t let himself stare at her too long. She caught him mouthing the words along with the movie on a few occasions and found herself smiling at him in the darkness of the room but only for a few moments before looking away. 

The movie ended but neither moved or reacted, too lost in thought and the other’s touch, so familiar yet so new and foreign. The TV screen went dark and the only light in the room was the glow coming in the windows from the street lamps. Scott’s hand stilled on her back as he felt her body vibrate as she took in a shaky breath.

“Tess?” he whispered into the darkness. She didn’t respond only let out another shaky breath and a whimper, turning to bury herself impossibly close to Scott, her face shoved in the crook of his neck. Her tears wet his skin and his heart broke for her. 

“You know we keep saying it feels like winning the silver,” she let out between sniffles many minutes later, “but it doesn’t feel that way all the time. I wanted that gold for you, for sticking with me, for us.”

“It doesn’t matter that we got Silver, Tutu. We skated our best. We felt every moment of that skate. We were more together than we’ve ever been before.”

“Exactly, we couldn’t win being the most connected we’ve ever been. What if it’s never enough?” Her voice fell into an almost inaudible whisper, ”What if all this goes away and there’s no Tessa and Scott anymore?” 

He almost can’t believe what she’s saying, that this is what has been worrying her. She was the only thing that kept him alive and if he had any say in it they would always be TessaandScott. Forever. He lifter her head from his shoulder so he could look in her eyes.

“Look at me, Tess.” He waited until he had her eyes, red and watery, before he continued. “You remember what I told you before we took the ice in Sochi? No matter what it’s you and me, T.”

He wasn’t sure if it was a laugh or a sob, either way tears were still flowing but she smiled for a moment and that was enough for now. He gently cradled her head pulling her back close to his chest and holding her as she cried whispering into her hair and kissing her head until she was calm and lulled into sleep.  
He rose from the couch holding her tight to his body and carried her into her bedroom. He held her with one arm and used the other to pull back her covers before gently setting her in the bed and pulling the covers back over her. He stood looking at her asleep, cheeks stained with tears but her face was at peace and her body rising and falling evenly with her breath. Scott bent down to kiss her forehead one last time before he went.

“I love you, Birdie, more than you will ever understand. Trust me a little, okay? I’m not going anywhere.” He whispered into her hair before kissing her forehead one last time and leaving.


	2. What is fate?

Find someone who traces the lines in your hands just to feel close to you, and someone who believes the ocean is trapped in your eyes. Find someone who loves the bones in your body and loves the skin that you live in. Find someone who will help you love yourself.  
-k.b.g.  
Late September 2014  
Maybe it's fate, but then again maybe it's not. He found himself smiling and chuckling as the door jingled, swinging open into the small coffee shop and saw her sitting in the back corner draped in the sunlight of the early morning. She sat curled up into a large arm chair facing the windows that look out on the street, a book resting against her knees but her eyes scanning the colors painted across the morning sky. She looked young, so young and oh so beautiful it took the breath right out of Scott’s chest. Face clear of make-up, hair falling loose and free over her shoulders, the sun illuminating around her head angelically. It hadn’t been that long since they’d seen each other last, maybe a week, but it wasn’t like it used to be and each time he saw her again after being apart it was like waking up to a fresh snow and no school. He swore she got more beautiful each time he saw her but maybe it was just now he was allowing himself to freely think these things. 

Only they would be up at this hour and find themselves, on a whim, at the same little cafe on 5th street. It probably wasn't fate he decided, but really, their inseparable souls which brought them both to the same place this Wednesday morning. He discovered since their decision to take the season off and their extended separation that there was most definitely a piece of himself in her and her in him. He didn’t know if she had discovered this yet but each time they parted he felt the piece of him in her dragged away with her body and a gapping hole in his chest that no one or nothing could fill as hard as he tried. 

Lost in thought, Scott didn’t realize he had stopped, standing still in the middle of the café until someone tapped his shoulder with a sir, are you in line? to which Scott nodded and apologized moving quickly to the counter. 

“Hi sir, what can I get for you?” the barista behind the counter asked with batted eye lashes and a smile much too big for someone working at this hour of the morning.

“Do you know what she got?” Scott pointed to Tessa, hoping the barista knew and ashamed he couldn’t remember what Tessa would have ordered. They’d definitely spent much too much time apart recently. 

The barista nodded, “I’ll have two of those,” Scott replied, the barista upset and giving Tessa a glare from across the room when she thought Scott wasn’t looking. She told him the price and he paid. 

Scott smiled politely, dropping his change in the tip jar and moving away from the counter. He suddenly felt a flutter of butterflies and nerves in his stomach as his feet carried him across the small space to Tessa. He scolded himself inwardly; it’s just T, calm down Scott. You’ve know her since she was six, this is no different than any other day. 

But he knew it was; every day since that night after they got back from Sochi has been different. There’s no competing anymore, there’s no Detroit and long days of rehearsal together and Saturdays spent trying to not be together but caving and hanging out. There was nothing keeping them from each other but themselves. But the emotions were all the more free than ever before. Every day, together or apart, felt like a chance of a step to their future, what that might be Scott had yet to figure out but he wanted it he just wasn’t always sure she wanted the same and wasn’t quite sure either of them knew who they were without the other and that terrified them. 

Taking a last deep breath in, Scott took the final step and sat down in the chair next to Tessa’s looking at her unfaltering beside him despite his movement. He took the moment to take in her beauty again, her brows furrowed as though she didn’t want the small smile to play on her lips.

“You come here often, miss?” Tessa would’ve groaned inwardly at the cheesy line had she not recognized the voice of the man sitting next to her. Her smile grew and butterflies flooded her stomach, even after 17 years with him he still had such an overwhelming power over her emotions, like he could flip a switch and she would melt. 

“I do actually, kind sir. What about yourself? You seem quite at home in that chair there.”

“If I seem at home it’s because of the company sitting next to me.” If he hadn’t known her as well and as long as he had he would’ve missed the second her face dimmed before she forced the smile to stay. Her brows furrowed again.

“Happy thoughts, Virtch?” Scott reached out and poked her arm, smiling a goofy Scott grin at her. She looked over at him and the contours of his face, searching her eyes for anything that told her he felt it too. He was still the same man she’d missed by her side every day since they decided to take the year off. 

“Always happy thoughts here unless you plan on ruining my happy spot for me,” she teased back at him, raising her eyebrows and smirking, trying to cover for her falter in emotions. 

“Hardy-har-har, you think so little of me. I didn’t even know you were here. No intention of any ruining of any happy spots, I happened upon you by fate,” he tried to joke back but Tessa was lost in thought. 

Fate, the one word she could use to describe everything about him, about them, which made complete sense to her. She had no other way to describe the moment the 9 year old boy with straggly brown hair and adventurous green eyes skated over to her little 6 year old self and took her hand and how she felt that it was the only hand she was meant to hold. The car rides to Waterloo when they were so young still and fell asleep in the car, her head falling onto his shoulder or his head falling into her lap and every time ever since on the hundreds of planes, trains, and car rides they’d taken together. They way they cried for each other and with each other in 2006 when they were one spot short of the Olympic team. How he came back to her after not talking through the first surgery, holding her like he did after they skated Umbrellas at worlds just a year before, their noses’ touching and breathes intermixing. Fate was the way they won in Vancouver, the way she whispered ‘hi’ and he whispered back ‘hello’ as they started Mahler. It was in the phone calls, Audrey Hepburn movie marathons, chocolate, and massages that accompanied the second surgery. In the withdrawal from the 2010 GPF final and his comforting voice in her ear as she cried in his shoulder so disappointed in letting him down, letting them down. It was in Funny Face, it was Funny Face, how she glowed through the program, how she became Audrey and he could love her like Fred Astaire’s did in the film. It was in the torture of Carmen, the disappointment in Sochi and every moment of her life since that first day stroking nervously around the ice with Scott Moir, the energetic, speedy, nephew of Carol Moir. It was their hearts beating together as one, feeling each other’s presence, which was fate. No matter which way she twisted it, how she skewed memories, fate was TessaandScott, VirtueandMoir, together. 

“Tess?” he asked, breaking her from her internal tangent. The same tangent she had been running through ever since Sochi and their time together became less often and new people tried to fill the void that the less intricate relationship between each other left. 

“Yeah, sorry.” She shook her head brows knitted together in frustration. 

“You okay? I haven’t seen you that lost in thought in a long time,” his eyes shone with curiosity and an emotion she didn’t want to try to name but the same one she’d seen time and time again when he looked at her. The same one that warmed her from the inside out and touched a place inside that no one else could, the one that made her want to run 1,000 miles in the other direction yet kept her pulled close to his side. 

“I…umm…it’s just…” Tessa didn’t understand why it was so hard to talk to him all of a sudden. Her stomach felt like it was in her throat and her vision was blurred by tears she had no idea of the origins and he was still looking at her with those damn eyes. 

“Wanna go for a walk, Birdie?” his hand came across the space between the chairs to clasp her own, the familiar warmth seeping from his hand to hers, filling her again. She broke her eyes from his, not being able to withstand his touch and gaze and words. It seemed like everything between them these days was too much emotionally, something linked to a piece of their past together that brought her back to the people they used to be together. 

She put her book into her purse and stood, meeting his eyes with a weak smile. He took her outstretched hand and stood with her. Taking a deep breath, Tessa steadied herself and looked over to Scott as they made their way out and onto the street. His eyes were full of concern; they both knew it wasn’t often she became this emotional.

He dropped her hand to open the door for her, she smiled at him in thanks and his hand found home on the small of her back and for a moment they were back to normal as they walked out onto the sidewalk in the light of the early morning. This is how it was whenever things got to be too much for Tessa at a competition or in training. Scott would take her hand and ask her ‘Wanna go for a walk, Birdie?’ and they’d walk until her eyes were dry and she was ready to tell him what was going on in her head. 

This morning was the same yet so different than it was all those times before, just like everything they did nowadays. It felt heavier, more impactful. Tessa slipped her arm around Scott’s as they walked, half for support to keep her up against the world weighing her down and half for the soothing affect his touch had on her. Come around another block, Tessa found her lungs lighter and her breath to come easier. Seeing a bench she directed their joined bodies to it and sat taking in one final steadying breath before turning to look at Scott. 

“Do you believe in fate?” she asked with wide, clear eyes, finally getting the question that’s been nagging her for the past 6 months, wondering if he felt the same.

His eyes were quizzical upon hearing the question, not at all expecting her to be struggling with the same things he had been.

“I think I believe more in two souls being connected by something greater than fate but maybe that’s the same thing.” He didn’t want to delve or divulge.

“But these things happen and then I sit here and I just wonder if maybe there was a reason and I wonder if I’m making the right choices now. It’s like I don’t know what to do anymore and all these things from the past are telling me one thing and then the world is telling me another and then things happen and I don’t know where I’m supposed to go or what I genuinely feel and now I’m rambling.” She sighed leaning back against the bench and closing her eyes. Maybe she had said too much and he didn’t feel the same. “Nothing’s the same, Scott. We said it would be but it’s all different and all…”

“I know. I don’t know what to do anymore. It’s like any purpose I had is gone but then again I’m still doing so much. I’m at the rink with the kids and helping around there and I have…” he paused, it didn’t feel right to say he had her when it wasn’t what he needed. “It isn’t the same, T. How do we make it the same?”

She wanted to tell him, wanted to scream to him that they drop the bullshit and love each other like they did before. But she couldn’t, not when she didn’t know what he would say back. The wrong step now would ruin them so she went back on the one constant they’d always had together.

“We skate.”

It was different taking the ice that late Wednesday afternoon; there weren’t many people there to their surprise for afterschool weekday hours. The tension seemed to dissipate with the frozen tundra environment they liked to call home. Tessa, arriving before Scott as per usual, was able to hook up her phone to the speakers and put her current playlist on shuffle while she warmed up. 

“Always late, Moir,” she yelled out to him as he casually stroked out to her a song and a half later.

“Or you’re just always early, Virtch,” he countered as he reached her and wrapped her in a headlock teasingly. Here they were again, laughing and back to 7 and 9 as he held her head tight back against himself and she flailed her arms back trying to tickle his sides and loose his hold to break out and it felt so much better than the tension of the morning. 

Finally, with an exasperated sigh, Scott let her loose to which she gave a triumphant ‘HA!’ and twirled around on the ice in front of him. How he ever spent a day without this he found perplexing in this moment watching Tessa’s face glowing with happiness in his direction. 

She took his hand and they began to stroke around the ice, occasionally breaking out ridiculous dance moves when a particular good song came on or going into dance hold and smiling like idiots at each other as they glided across the ice. 

“Twizzles!” Scott yelled out as he broke their hold to set up for the feat and then promptly tripped over his own skates on the first rotation. Tessa couldn’t help but to laugh. Her smile grew as he looked up at her from his seat on the ice with a dopey grin and finally her soul felt warm and full again. Extending an arm down to him, she heard the familiar first chords of the song that was her mantra, the only true expression of how she was feeling. As Scott rose, pulling her to his body, she felt as though the cold environment was suddenly much too hot and stuffy. Tessa’s eyes fluttered shut as he pulled her closer to his body. Their foreheads came together and nose’s touched as the lyrics began.  
Oh it’s you, I know, you’re the one I dream of  
Looks into my eyes, takes me to the clouds above  
Her eyes opened slowly to gaze into his and she saw everything she felt shining through his eyes at her.  
Oh I lose control, can’t seem to get enough  
When I wake from dreaming, tell me is it really love? 

He pushed them into a dance, a dance they’d never allowed themselves to skate before, their story, no Marina, no choreography, just emotions. Their bodies worked fluidly together again as they glided over the ice, falling apart and coming back together with the ebb and flow of the music. With each time they found each other again, their faces seemed to meet impossibly closer. Tessa could feel his eyelashes flutter against her skin as the song ended and they held each other in the middle of the ice. Their breathing evened out together as the next song played well into the second chorus but they didn’t move to separate, feeling that if they did it would all end again and neither would really know. 

Stoic and frozen, the ice had been as much of a constant the past 17 years as their inner dialogues had become in the time of separation. Everything that once was between them was the same but the arctic bubble they used to live in had melted around them. It was in moments like these where they felt too much and said too little that began all tension. With music much too fitting to their current state and the way she was looking at him, Scott knew this was their next “Stay.” The next etchings of “I love you”s across the ice for the words that wouldn’t leave their hearts, let alone their mouths. 

The next song blasted through the empty rink causing them to startle out of their haze and jump apart from each other momentarily. Taking her hand again, Scott smiled at Tessa shyly to which she smiled back much to his delight and they began to stroke around the ice again.

“That felt good, eh?” Scott spoke in a surprisingly normal voice to be so closely following an emotionally charged skate.

“We might just have ourselves a new program.” And there it was, Scott thought, his hint that Tessa was okay, that they were going to be okay.

“You know, T, you had me worried for a while there this morning,” he bumped her shoulder with his, playfully smirking. 

Yeah, well…” she sighed, “sometimes things just hit me. You were just lucky enough to see it this time.”

“There’s only one way to end a day like today,” Scott leered at her, waggling his eyebrows, turning so they were face to face. Tessa groaned knowing exactly what he had planned.

Later that night as she looked over at the man sitting beside her at the dinner table, chocolate milk staining his upper lip and she smiled, everything would be okay.


	3. The Same Thing We Always Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self respect. And it’s these things I’d believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn’t all she should be. I love her and it is the beginning of everything. –F. Scott Fitzgerald

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post this tonight since I'm two days late on my promised deadline and didn't want to make it three days late so I will come back and fix grammar stuff later. 
> 
> I’ve decide that this is just going to be completely AU, so no other people holding them back from being together. I’m still using the timeline from the past year though as the basis of the story but that’s the only reality. That's part of why this chapter is sooo delayed also. I'm sorry!! I thought I wanted to take it one way but changed my mind completely and struggled to decide what I wanted to be based on reality and what was completely my own. It's going to be more of the latter. Thanks for your patience and I hope I haven't lost your interest. I'm still really excited about the fic.
> 
> Also, it might come across that I'm implying Tessa is pregnant at one point towards the end and I just wanted to give fair warning that she isn't so don't get excited or disappointed there.

October 27, 2014  
Nervous energy put into action turns out to be a good thing. They met at her place to go over the speech one more time before heading to the business school. Contrary to past experiences, Scott was a nervous wreck and Tessa the calmer of the two. He came to her door earlier than their planned meeting time, letting himself in before she could get to the door wowed by his early arrival so very different than his late habits. Joining her in her small bathroom, he paced behind her as she did her hair and makeup, repeating his parts of their speech rigidly over and over again.

“Scotty,” his hand was met with hers, reaching back, batting her eyelashes at him as their eyes met in the mirror like she's done since they were kids, “you’re going to do great. Together, we will be amazing. You and me against the world, right?”

Her warm, languorous words melted him from his nervous frenzy and ignited that feeling he buried deep. Sitting down on her bath tub ledge, he watched her finish getting ready. His stiff, rehearsed words turned loose and free flowing in an easy back and forth; the butterflies subsided in his stomach save for the occasional reappearance in particular parts of their story. They've always said it’s easy to romanticize their reality but who they are trying to convince of that, the public or themselves is a blurred line. It could be written plain as day, 7 and 9 taking each other’s hands to their lives today and it would still seem like a culmination of Nicholas Sparks novels, minus the falling in love. But that’s the crazy thing about being around Tessa lately. Scott feels suffocated by emotions for which he doesn’t have a name; it’s toxic and addictive.

It's the butterflies he felt when her hand found his knee as her nerves took over sitting in the auditorium later that morning. The way he felt his body flush as he checked her mic was in place, slowly touching the smooth skin exposed on her back in the tortuous outfit she wore. The butterflies came back as they went grocery shopping before heading back to her place. As they argued about which brand of noodles tastes better he felt something warm his insides that made him agree with her choice and apologize with a kiss to her cheek. Later, he fed her samples as she placed items in the shopping basket and a new unnamed emotion washes over Scott. It's the familiarity of being in her space and the domesticity of already having sweatpants and a t-shirt in her drawer, for emergencies of course. It's there in this moment as he watched her sway to a tune her phone played music as she put various groceries away and pulling out what they need to cook. He took his time, no rush to make his presence known, standing in the doorway to the kitchen basking in the happiness seeping off Tessa. He felt the all too familiar goofy big grin form on his face and fell into yet another Tessa induced daze, quite a common phenomenon as of late. 

Twirling from one corner to another Tessa remained ignorant of his presence, enjoying herself with an ease he missed seeing in her with their lack of time spent together and the stress of the morning. With her eyes closed, she spun out from behind the counter and quickly towards Scott. Before either had a chance to react Tessa collided with his solid frame, her front meeting his, their faces close. Her eyes opened gently and a smile eased onto her face as she took Scott’s hands, placing one on her hip and one in her own hand before leading them into an easy waltz through the kitchen. 

If there was one thing she missed about seeing Scott everyday it was definitely how it felt to dance with him. There was no other feeling that could compare to his hand on her waist and their bodies moving fluidly together as they did with no one else. That and a list of about 300 other reasons she missed seeing Scott everyday but that was something she couldn’t dwell on too long, something that stayed locked away deep within because thoughts like that were of a dangerous caliber. 

As the song came to an end, Scott stepped out of hold gently placing a soft kiss to the back of her hand, cradling it in his own before bowing in the fashion of a prince to a princess at a royal ball. Tessa laughed at his antics, laughing even more, loud and head turned back as Everybody Dance Now started playing and he began breaking out ridiculous break dance moves. Wiggling his finger towards her, he tried to tease her into joining him in his embarrassing dance move showcase. Tessa crossed her arms and laughed more shaking her head at him When he came over to her and pulled her back against his body she gave in, dancing goofily with him to the song that could bring back all the celebration and happiness felt 4 and a half years ago in Vancouver. 

Without a doubt, every time the song played anywhere Scott was transported back to Olympic ice, moments and connections her shared with Tessa that no one else could ever understand, moments he felt something he could never, would never feel again with anyone else. 

As he twirled Tessa into his side the song came to an end. He felt that familiar pull inside but as soon as it was there it was gone, filled by a new sensation of overwhelming, all-encompassing warmth. 

Here’s the thing about dancing with Tessa; it had never been the same as dancing with anyone else, Scott could’ve told anyone that as a child and it stayed true every waltz since. Pulling her close once again in her kitchen the familiar butterflies flittered around in his stomach so powerfully he often wondered if she could feel the movement against her own midsection in their tight hold. His cheeks flushed with warmth as her delicate fingers walked across his back to hold him closer, their foreheads melding together as her head lay against his. Surely she felt the warmth radiating from his skin onto hers. And as her fingers intertwined with his, the back of her hand cradled against his heart in the alcove their bodies shaped out over the years to fit their joint hands between their bodies pulled impossibly close, shivers shoot down his spine causing wake in their undulating moves. 

The song was so familiar but suddenly very new. The words seemed to further imply what they felt, their impossible love being the only saving grace in the world for each other. Always teetering on the line between best friends and more, Tessa’s lips grazed against his cheek and to his lips, barely there and ghosting away, almost there but not quite. She repeated the movement, dragging her lips up his other cheek and sweeping over his eyes, fluttering at the sensation. It wasn’t new but it was real, not a performance so when her lips grazed his again he let out a soft moan, desperate for her touch. His eyes shut and his face leaned towards her of it’s own accord. At the song’s crescendo, he couldn’t hold back any longer and let his face fall forward, lips landing soundly on her cheek. Chills ran through Tessa as she felt his lips soft against her cheek. She smiled leaning her face into his lips as they continued to slowly sway together. His lips moved to rest again her forehead, breathing her in slowly, becoming intoxicated on her scent. He was tempting fate; a recovering addict on the brink of letting go. 

Suddenly, she was standing alone, arms empty of a body she could’ve sworn was holding hers seconds ago. She shuddered at the lack of body heat against hers, wondering if it was just another dream and Scott was never here holding her and trying to kiss her. Her eyes flew open as a strange ringing sound suddenly echoing through the space. Sure enough, Scott was there, mumbling in frustration under his breath as he stalked to the stove. He didn’t even stop to get a towel or mitt before he was tearing the pot of water off the stove and dropping it quickly in the sink with a loud clatter.

“OW OW OW OW OW. HOT!” Tessa stifled laughter, mostly stemming from the relief to see him actually there with her, as he flung the faucet on shaking his hand under the cool flow to try and stop the burning sensation. He was letting out little mewls, sounding much like a cat in his attempting to suppress the pain. She would never tell him but the sounds made it all the more obvious and infectiously endearing. She could let him believe he looked like a brave man not an idiot who burnt himself taking a pot off the stove with his bare hands. 

“Tessa! The fire alarm!” He shouted to her, eyes wide in shock at her still standing where he left her. 

“Oh, right, duh, sorry,” she mumbled apparently just as distracted from their dance as he. She sprung into action climbing onto the counter and reaching up to take the fire alarm off the ceiling and stopped the beeping. Scott moved from the sink, wincing at the lack of cool water running over his burnt hand, and began opening windows around the kitchen and fanning smoke out. Tessa perched herself on the counter, swinging her legs over the edge while watching Scott scurry around. 

“Noodles, I didn’t know noodles could cause such a disturbance. Only us, eh Tess?” he came over bracketing her legs and wincing as he placed his hands on her hips. 

“Let me see that burnt hand,” she coed and cradled his hand in her own bringing it close to her face for inspection. It was a little red but not blistered although he still let out a suffocated yelp and buried his head on her thigh every time she ran her fingers over the skin. 

Gazing up at her with his large eyes glistening like a hurt boy, “Am I gonna live?” she was transported back to one of their early years together when her little Scotty fell and skinned his knee while playing by the lake one summer. He looked up to her with the same watery but brave eyes as she inspected the wound then. 

She answered the same she did then and every time since, “No, Scotty, I think you just ended our career. They’re going to have to amputate.” He played along, eyes growing wide and his head dropped back down dramatically into her lap. She let out a loud laugh at his drama. She ran her fingers through his hair for a few moments “Let me down and I’ll get some cream and a band-aid for your hand.” 

Scott stepped away pulling her hips forwards and lifting her off the counter and onto the floor. She smiled in thanks then walked away and disappeared back into her bathroom chastising herself every time her mind began to wander. Scott was off limits. Liking Scott was off limits. Feelings things, real things, around Scott: forbidden. She jogged back to the kitchen with her bandage and cream for his hand eager to escape her thoughts. Being around Scott was safe. She could do things and not think of what they meant it was when he left that things got dangerous. 

Or that’s what she thought until now. Scott was in her kitchen, wearing ridiculous frilly apron and struggling to cut tomatoes with his burnt hand. His forehead was wrinkled tight and his eyes glassed over with a look she knew better than any other, determination. If it wasn’t too ironic, she would’ve told him they were playing with fire but they already set the alarm off. They should know the dangers by now. It doesn’t stop her from letting her heart speed up when she sees him in her space cooking dinner even with an injured hand. Does she think he belongs there? That’s another question she won’t allow herself to answer.

“Scott, you know, using your burnt hand isn’t going to make it any better?” she gently chastised coming over and taking the knife from his hand. She squeezed the cream onto his hand and began rubbing it slowly into his skin. She’d held his hand millions of times before and it’d been years since she let herself react to something so small so easily. She kept rubbing gently, taking in a large breath as she looked up and met his eyes, large and shining again, not playful but adoring. He held her gaze, eyes speaking a thousand words. 

“So,” she said clearing her throat, the weight of his eyes becoming too much, “why don’t we just order some food?” She wrapped the bandage around his hand quickly but with care and dropped her hands to her side. 

“Sure, that new Thai place delivers. I was waiting to try it until you freed up space in your schedule to see me anyway,” Scott teased at her. He had been threatening an intervention to tear her away from her school work. The work load probably wasn’t as bad as she made it be but free time meant thinking about other things and that was a luxury Tessa didn’t want to have. 

“Thai sounds good. What do you want?”

As she called, Scott went out onto the small balcony off the dining room. The air was cooler than before as the evening sky painted the horizon. He settled back into the cushioned couch, the side he knew Tessa didn’t claim as her own and watched. He could hear Tessa through the open door joking through the phone to the Thai restaurant. He loved listening to her talk to people. He loved knowing her so well he could hear the subtle differences in her voice for every person she talked to and every mood she was in. When he heard her end the call he called out to her to watch with the sunset with him, a simple pleasure that brought him always back to Tessa.

“You remember our tradition? Sunsets in every city.”

“We were so little when we started, just babies,” she reminisced coming to sit down on the couch in her spot. Scott smirked, silently applauding himself, as she snuggled into her corner and smiled over at him in thanks for his seating choice. 

“It’s beautiful tonight. So many colors.”

“It always is in the fall, I’ve been out here almost every night this week.”

“Watching sunsets without me?! First you don’t have time to hang out and now you’re watching sunsets without me? Tessa!” He feigned anger, folding his arms over his chest and turning his head away. She burst out in laughter. He could be such a drama king sometimes but she knew he was half serious, it was kind of their thing. 

“Come over here ya big baby.” She held her arms out to him and he beamed at her. He scooted across the small space between them and curled into her side wrapping his arms tight around her middle. She giggled again at his antics, “I’m sorry Scotty, I hereby promise to never watch a sunset without you again.” 

“Pinky promise?” he held out a pinky for her to link with his own.

“You’re such a child.” She linked her pinky with his and shook their fingers together. 

“You’re stuck with me anyway. I’ll have you know I can be very mature though,” he waggled his eyebrows at her. 

“Scott!” She shoved him away. He was a flirt but this was new; another thing to add to her list of things not to think about. They sat in silence as the sky changed into intense hues of orange and pink as the sun fell closer to the horizon. It was comforting to think back on all the times they’ve done the same thing. 

When she told him she needed surgery the first time they were doing the same thing. They were home for the weekend and went out for a drive. Scott knew something was on Tessa’s mind so when she showed up one evening at his parent’s house knocking on the door with tears in her eyes. He took her out back and held her while they watched the sun. He pretended he didn’t notice her crying but still whispered ever sweet nothing he could think of over and over again in her ear.

When the sun fell completely under the horizon they didn’t move, holding each other, breathing in sync. Everything was normal and okay in that moment. It’s almost too quiet all things considered. Tessa was running her fingers through his hair again and holding him close with the other, fingers gripping the back of his t-shirt. His hands began to move of their own accord, rubbing gently over her hip bone and he wouldn’t complain about her allowing him to rest his head on her chest. Her heart was beating at an even pace but every few minutes it would speed up, like she thought of something and panicked before calming back down again. 

His was probably doing the same as he thought and over thought their day. He kept falling back to the moment in her kitchen. He thought she was going to kiss him. He’d be lying if he told her he hadn’t been thinking about that quite a bit recently but she wasn’t asking. She wasn’t even answering most of his phone calls. For a girl he’s known 18 years he sure was having a hard time figuring her out now and asking her seemed like the wrong move. He should know. It bothered him that he didn’t know. 

He wondered if she still thought about fate? His answer was changing. Maybe it was fate, that force out there that pushed people together and made things happen that was so beyond their control. But that would make his life such a giant cliché. 

The doorbell rang tearing Scott from his reverie. He rose with Tessa suddenly feeling an obligation to pay for their dinner. Her bickered with her to the door and in the end lost to her shooing him away to get silverware from the kitchen and meet her the living room. 

Her grabbed their utensils and made his way back into the living room lighting candles to brighten the late evening glow of the room. At least that was his excuse, not to make it seem more romantic. Although, he knew candles were a clear shot to her heart and if he let her believe he would choose an Audrey movie and their entertainment he’d really be getting in there if he was any guy other than himself. But he was Scott and she was Tessa so it was a gamble of what affect either tactic would have on her. 

As he was lighting the last few candles Tessa came into the room. He heard her loud gasp followed by a watery sigh. Scott smiled and walked to her Audrey movie selection picking out Breakfast at Tiffany’s knowing the film was one of her favorites, his too if he told the truth. He put it in the DVD player.

“What are we watching tonight? Another hockey movie?”

“You think so little of me, Tess.” He smirked turning back to her as the title came across the screen. Her squeal told him it was a good choice. He settled in on one end of the couch as she took up camp on the other end. They ate as they watched, trading containers and exchanging praise for the new restaurant’s food. 

Even with the distraction of the food Scott found the large space between them unsettling. He could feel his shoulder’s become tighter by the minute. His brain was questioning everything that’d happened again and it made his heart race. The space felt like a wall between them, something built so long ago it seemed like it could crumble but was in actuality invincible and he was stuck on the wrong side. 

“Wine?” It was well into the movie when Scott asked. Tessa was absentmindedly rubbing her stomach, stuffed from dinner but the devilish grin she gave him told him she wasn’t too stuffed for a drink and he knew just the one she wanted. 

Gathering their mess, he knew she hated leaving dirty dishes out over night; he went back into the kitchen to get their drinks and deposit the silverware and throw away their trash. He came back with two glasses of chocolate milk and sat down right next to her, shoulders and thighs brushing. He felt his skin heat, fire catching within. He’d played with fire too long. He was set ablaze. 

 

She had curled into his side at some point during Holly and Paul’s day out together and trip to Tiffany’s. She fell asleep not long after that and he had to be upset over Holly leaving Paul and Cat without her. The movie credits were long over now and the intro music on the title menu had been playing on repeat for so long it was no longer noticeable. Scott was watching Tessa as she slept, head tucked into the crook of his arm. Looking at her made him not want to go, it made him want to hold her forever, especially if his heart felt this good every time he got to. 

He gently grazed his lips across her forehead afraid to wake her but when she didn’t flinch he pressed his lips soundly against her cheek bone. Again, he kissed her jaw and another on her forehead for good measure before he tried to extract himself as gently as possible from her arms.

Stirring as he tried to stand she grabbed his hand and held tight letting out one breathy word, “stay.”

So instead he picked her up and cradled her against his chest and took her to bed. He held her against his body with one arm as he pulled back the sheets then laid her down and covered her back up. He was about to let go of the one hand she was still holding in his and go home despite her wishes when her lips pressed against his fingers and she groaned something incoherent about bed, cold, and him. 

Walking to the other side he climbed in next to her trying to keep his space. His lungs were already too full of her scent and he was too high on her. But she groaned again and turned reaching for him and pulling him so close to her he knew he’d never come down and if he had to it would destroy him.

“What are we doing?”

“The same thing we always do, Scotty.” 

She knew the answer wasn’t enough and so did he but that was all were willing to say tonight- the same thing they always do.


	4. The Heart of Life is You

**_In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours._ **

**_In all the world, there is no love for you like mine._ **

**_-Maya Angelou_ **

Skate Canada 2014

“What do you mean you slept with Scott and nothing happened?!” Kaitlyn screeched, suddenly sitting up bolt straight across from Tessa on the bed, room service jostled between them.

“Calm down, Kait. You’re going to spill the food,” Tessa held tight to the mug in her hand suddenly finding her tea much more interesting than the conversation. She could feel a blush start to heat her cheeks and willed it away. She wasn’t an emotional teenager anymore, she could handle this conversation. Scott was just _Scott_ …so what if they happened to share a bed for a night.

“No way! You don’t get to go shy now that you revealed that,” Kaitlyn giggled, “I can’t believe you waited this long to tell me.”

“It’s been barely a week, I wouldn’t necessarily call that ‘long’.”

“Stop changing the subject, I want to know the details.”

“We slept in my bed, at my house, for one night, fully clothed.”

“You’re infuriating. Did you put up a barrier in the middle of the bed too?” Physically in the bed, no, Tessa thought but the wall between them was definitely still there no matter how many bricks had been pushed down and were scattered like rubble around them. However, that doesn’t mean he didn’t hold her as she fell asleep. She possibly snuggled closer into his side when she stirred in the middle of the night and maybe had to try really hard to suppress the urge to kiss him when the first thing she saw the next morning was his gorgeous chocolate eyes and adoring smile focused intently on her.

“AHA! Do you feel yourself smiling? You’re giving yourself away, Tessa. Now I know something happened, spill.” Kaitlyn wiggled down against the mattress and snatched a fry from the tray triumphantly. She watched with wide eyes as Tessa sloshed around the remainder of her tea. After taking one last gulp she slowly placed it back on the cart.

“From the beginning?” Tessa sighed as Kaitlyn nodded eagerly. Tessa dove into the story relaying their day from the morning in the bathroom to falling asleep on the couch. Kaitlyn squealed appropriately at them watching the sunset cuddled together and Scott gallantly carrying her to bed but neglected the details of their conversations, feeling it as too intimate to share. 

“You can’t stop there. What happened in the morning?”

“It was perfect,” Tessa’s eyes glossed over as she thought wistfully back to those tender moments in bed, bathed in the morning light. What happened had been too felt like a dream too perfect to put into words. The feeling of slowly coming into awareness bundled in the warmth and scent unique to her best friend felt like home. And when she finally opened her eyes to meet his she knew there was nothing else she ever wanted to wake up to again. She didn’t even have to look at his lips to know he was smiling his ridiculously large smile. It was a bit too much for her little heart, making her nuzzle her head into his shoulder to hide the pink tainting her cheeks. His lips, long and slow against her temple, sent shivers up her spine while warming her from the inside out. She pressed a kiss back against the underside of his jaw and gave his body one last squeeze before throwing the covers back and getting out of bed before she was pulled into an unbreakable spell, one she didn't dear fall into yet.

“Hmm,”  breaking Tessa's reverie Kaitlyn uncaringly turned away suddenly uninterested.

“You don’t want to know more?” Tessa gasped, taken back by the disinterest after Kaitlyn’s pleads all evening.

“Nope, I’m good.”

“Oh,” Tessa stood from the bed gathering the dishes from their food and putting them on the cart and rolled it back out into the hall. Rejoining Kaitlyn on the bed she relaxed back against the headboard.

“Tessa?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really happy for you two, even if nothing is totally happening yet, it’s really good to see you both like this,” Kaitlyn’s words are solid and earnest. She moved to lean back next to Tessa on the headboard and Tessa opened her hand to hold Kaitlyn’s.

“Thanks. I’m really happy too.” Her words were so quiet and broken Kaitlyn might have missed it had she not been looking at Tessa. She squeezed her hand as Tessa’s head dropped down onto her shoulder. Tessa’s body shuddered and she took in a deep, shaky breath.

“Hey now, shhh, it’s okay,” Kaitlyn was pulling Tessa into her side as quick as she could trying to comfort her. She can remember this feeling so clearly and yet can’t imagine the magnitude of how Tessa is feeling now. 17 years is a lot longer of a wait and wonder than the few before she and Andrew stopped fooling around. It’s scary almost having everything you think you've ever wanted but not quite knowing if it will be as good as it seems. Tessa’s still shaking, tears flowing onto Kaitlyn’s shoulder when she speaks in broken sentences.

“There’s so many what if’s and…and… we haven’t even talked yet and it’s already so… so good and it’s not even anything.”  She took in another deep breath and it seemed to help subside some of the tears. Her breath was begging to come slower and less sporadicly. "Kait, we're best friends," her voice cracked around the words. Her eyes were hooded and heavy against her structured face which seemed more hallow now. She fell silent with another shaky breath, picking at her nails, a habit she picked up from all the time spent with Scott.   

"I know." Kaitlyn pulled her closer and the two snuggled together blanketed in the insecurities of living with the blatant truth in such blurred lines. Tessa's tears slowed and her grip on Kaitlyn loosened a bit. She even let go to wipe her eyes. Turning to Kaitlyn she gave her a defeated grin and sat up in determination. 

"I'm so sick of waiting for the last pin to drop."

 

“How about we have some fun until then?” Kaitlyn clasped her hands and sat back up on the bed.

 

“Yes, celebrate you, champ.”  Tessa jumped up over-enthusiasticly and went to the desk to flip open her laptop. She and Kaitlyn made eye contact across the room.

  
“Dance party!” the two squealed as music filled the room from Tessa's computer and they started dancing around in a manner which would not hint at their talent on the ice. They twirled each other around, did ridiculous sprinklers and other crazy dance fads, and most of all laughed well into the evening. If there was one way to let go, this was it. The secret to many nights of similar emotions in the past. The survival tool when innevitably one of their relationships with their partner became a bit too real. 

 

Hours passed full of fun before, exhausted, they collapsed onto Tessa’s bed.

  
“Too tired to move,” Tessa’s words came muffled through her pillow.

 

“Mmmm, don’t want to get up,” Kaitlyn mumbled back.

 

“You sure you don’t have a partner out there looking to celebrate with you?” Kaitlyn huffed in response and scrunched up on the bed, burrowing further into the pillows. Mumbling something about same house, waiting, tomorrow she yawned and closed her eyes. Tessa giggled and fell asleep before she could say much more.

* * *

 

Much later that night a rambunctious group of skaters stumbled through the halls among them, Scott. He wished the others good night as they went their separate ways and loitered a bit in the hall before making his way to Tessa's room. He knew she and Kaitlyn were having a girl’s night but was hoping the new Skate Canada champ had already decided to call it a night or could be easily persuaded to find the way back to her own room. Or rather Andrew's, he was pretty sure she had been staying there all week and he had mentioned something about finding Kaitlyn as he wandered off. Lucky bastards, Scott mentally cursed them. Maybe being with your partner wasn't as hard as it seemed. 

 

He knocked on Tessa’s door assuming the two would still be up enjoying their night. He was met with silence; shouting a warning through the door he slid his own key card into the door. Inside all the lights were on but the only noise was the deep breathing of the two sleeping ice dancers on the bed. 

 

“Tess?” he whispered as he made his way into the room. He had to stifle a laugh when he saw the pairs sprawled across the bed fast asleep on top of all the covers. He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture to send to Andrew telling him not to worry, he’d tuck them both in. He did exactly as he said going to Kaitlyn’s side first. She stirred as he moved her around as gently as possible.

 

Kaitlyn mumbled unintelligently and lifted up her legs so the covers could be easily pulled out. She rubbed her eyes and opened them, face scrunched up in confusion. “Sorry, stole your spot,” she yawned and turned over pulling the covers up to her chin. Scott chuckled as he moved to Tessa’s side.   

 

Taking in her beauty her really wished Kaitlyn’s words were more true. Her hair was laying crazy against the pillow and over her cheek. Scott brushed back the long tendrils from her skin. His thumb traced her cheek bone and down her chin. Her eye lids fluttered at his touched and she sighed, a small smile gracing her face but she remained asleep.

He lifted her gently from the bed and cradled her close while turning back the sheets. He took a moment to hold her close and breathe in the scent of pure Tessa, _his_ Tessa, before placing her back on the mattress and pulling the covers over her. Scott wove his hand into her hair and pressed a long kiss to her forehead, “Goodnight, T.”

He turned off the lamp next to the bed but the room remained illuminated in a white glow. Frowning, Scott looked around the room for the source of the light. He found her computer still lit and made his way to the desk to turn it off. Closing the music tab he was surpised to see a familiar moment with Tessa at her parents from a few weeks ago. He remembered the night clearly; she was so beautiful that he couldn’t resist being close. He hugged her from behind and was kissing her cheek after whispering in her ear. He didn’t even know the photo had been taken until he saw it now. His heart swelled up in his chest in desperation for a future looking like this snapshot.  

He turned back to the bed and the sleeping woman and whispered into the darkness of the room, “you’re something else, Tess.”

Scott was falling and he didn’t know if he wanted to, if the path was one with no end this time, but he couldn’t stop his heart again, not this time.

* * *

The sun streamed in through the curtains and lit the room. Tessa turned away from the streaming light and towards the body heat radiating from the other side of her bed willing more sleep to come. Her bed felt a little unknown, the weight of the body next to her shifting the mattress in an unfamiliar way. The scent one she'd smelled before but it didn't smell right here. She tried to let herself fall back to sleep but the uneasiness wouldn't allow her.  Giving up, she opened her eyes to long blond hair. Why was anyone in her bed? She sat up alarmed and then saw the whole face of her companion, Kaitlyn, she sighed in relief.

She turned to look at the alarm clock, it was late but not too late they’d missed much of the morning. She decided it was probably best to wake Kaitlyn, unsure what her plans for today were. Tapping her shoulder, Tessa gently called her name. Her eyelids fluttered and opened with the same confusion as Tessa’s had moments ago.

“What’s time?” Kaitlyn rubbed her eyes struggling to keep them open.

“Around 9:30,” Tessa rolled out of bed and made way to the window to open the blinds and let in the sun. Kaitlyn stretched and reached over to the nightstand to grab her own phone when she saw Tessa’s phone lit up with a message from Scott.

 _Will Kaitlyn let me steal you away? <3 pretty please. _ 

“I didn’t know what you had on your agenda today so I figured I’d wake you.” Tessa turned back to Kaitlyn with a smile, hoping she could talk her into breakfast together not wanting to eat alone or face Scott quite yet.

“I don’t know about my day but it seems your man wants to steal you away from me already,” she winked at Tessa and stood stretching by the bed. Tessa groaned and rubbed her forehead. The conversation she needed to have with him was not something she was prepared for in any capacity but also one that she wasn’t sure she could keep from breaching much longer.

“I don’t know if I can see him yet, Kait. Last night was a lot…acknowledging things make them kinda more real and what if we’re not ready for real.”

“I think this is a conversation you should be having with Scott and not me.” Tessa sighed, she knew Kaitlyn was right.  

 “Go shower and let him whisk you away for a bit. You don’t even have to talk. Just stop worrying and enjoy it.” She gathered her belongings from around the room and pulled on her shoes and sweatshirt. Tessa sighed and followed her to the door. As they hugged Kaitlyn whispered, “talk is a good thing though,” before squeezing one last time and making her way out of the room and down the hall and towards the elevator.  

“Kait, your room is the other way!” Tessa called out to her. Maybe she should have insisted she stayed until she was more awake. Kaitlyn never was much of a morning person.

“Some people don’t have problems sorting out their feelings with their partner,” Kaitlyn winked back at Tessa before continuing towards the elevator. Tessa scoffed remembering having a crying Kaitlyn in her arms many times over her partner.  

* * *

 

Tessa let the door fall shut behind her and sat in the chair by the window enjoying the view of the lake. She read over Scott’s text multiple times. Since when were hearts a part of his messages to her? More things to add to the list of reasons he might finally want more than the ephemeral moments scattered through their joint past. Those moments were once enough; each new medal turned into another lock and key around her heart though that was over now. They had no more titles to win, no reason to hold back what they’ve always felt since they put the first blockade on their romance at the age of 8 and 10. There would be no more nights of “someday soon, Tess,” or “just a few more years until we’re done, Scotty,” if they were finally to give in. She couldn’t reach any closure to her thoughts without talking to him though.

She sighed and finally texted him back telling him to meet her at her room in 20 minutes. Tessa crossed the room and did a once over in the mirror and deemed a shower unnecessary even if without she would only look semi-human. Her hair was sticking up all over and her face was puffy from the crying she did last night.

She went into the bathroom and washed her face. As she brushed her teeth her phone dinged with a message, _Not a minute later. I can’t wait, T._

 She smiled sending back a series of ridiculous emojis despite the anxiety still settled in her stomach. Her hair was a hopeless cause and she brushed it only to pull it back up into a bun on the top of her head. For her own sake she put on a tinted moisturizer, hoping to cover the puffiness around her eyes and some mascara.

She looked down at her yoga pants and old t-shirt, possibly actually Scott’s not that she’d admit that, and went to her drawers to pick out some new clothes. She realized she had no clue what Scott had planned for them, if anything, and settled for jeans, a tee, and her non-Canada jacket with a pair of boots. That would do for just about anything.

Just as she was putting on her shoes on there was a knock on the door before she heard the click of the key card unlocking. She took in a deep breath trying to calm herself.

“You better be ready and dressed because I’m coming in,” his voice melted away every worry out of her body. She could feel it all fall from her and onto the floor. He came in without looking her way and shut the door quietly. When he turned to her and smiled making her heart beat so fast she thought it would fall out and join her anxiety on the ground.

“Mmmm, definitely ready and beautiful as ever,” he commented crossing the room and offering his hand. She took it and stood from the bed, smiling at Scott so much she thought her cheeks might rip.  

“Thanks,” Tessa took his other hand in hers and stood toe-to-toe looking into his eyes. Deep chocolate, full of love and devotion, the same eyes she’d loved having locked with hers since she was a little girl. She let go of his hands to sling one arm low around his waist and pull him closer and brought the other hand up to caress his cheek. It felt as though time had stopped around them for this one moment.

Scott mimicked her positioning, pulling her closer with a hand on her back and cupping her cheek with the other. His thumb ran under her eyes on puffy skin, the same stains on her face when he saw her the morning after their Sochi silver, “You’re eyes are red, T, you okay?”  

The bliss of the past few moments quickly faded and her breath caught in her throat. She watched his eyes flash with worry and let her head fall deep into his palm.

“We probably need to talk soon,” she let out with a shaky breath, “about what we’re doing. But let’s enjoy today before we have to leave. I’m okay.” She hoped her eyes were convicting enough to let him know the sincerity of her words. He frowned, unsatisfied, then pulled her into a hug. His lips rested against her temple and he took the moment to breathe her in. He felt her chest begin to fill with air in time with his own.

“Together. Always.” He whispered against her skin, sealing the words like a promise with a long slow kiss on her hairline. Tessa pulled back and gave him a watery smile.”Stop with the tears, T. Today’s a new day, a happy day, let’s go eat.”  

Scott grabbed her hand and pulled her through the door. She giggled at his enthusiasm and didn’t let go until they had to separate at the little café to slide into the cozy round booth. As soon as they met in the corner of the bench seat his arm was securely around her waist and her hand on his thigh. Everything felt right.

As the waitress came over he gave Tessa’s hip a squeeze and ordered their healing drinks, “two large chocolate milks, please.”


	5. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

**_Slipping into an irrevocable pattern they fell. They fell without even knowing because this time neither let the other hit the ground._ **

It’d been exactly three weeks since getting back from Skate Canada and things fell into an easy pattern just like always with the two of them. They skated that first day back and he didn’t let go of her hand after they got off the ice. She didn’t mind.

Today, Tessa had deemed a tidy up day in order to prepare for the Christmas decorating planned for the following weekend when Jordan came into town. Scott had invited Tessa out for lunch, promising a delightful afternoon but she was quick to say no determined for the place to be in perfect shape for her sister’s arrival.

She shouldn’t have been surprised to hear the rumble of his old truck pull into the driveway and the click of her front door unlocking as she sat in her pajamas with her coffee and toast snuggled up to a book in the overstuffed arm chair by her living room window. She picked up her book mark from the side-table and slid it between the pages and set the book down next to her plate and coffee cup. His keys scraped against the bowl in her front hall and his shoes thudded against hers in the front hall. He padded into the room just as Tessa turned to look back at him, matching smiles illuminating their faces.

In a joking mood, Scott dramatically flopped across her lap on the chair snuggling up on her shoulder batting his big brown eyes up at her. Her laugh floated through the space and made his smile grow wider.

“Heavy…too…heavy,” she said as he squirmed further into her.

“Hmmm, can’t hear you, ‘m sleeping Tess.” She let out a loud belly-laugh. He felt her stomach vibrating against him.

“There’s only one way.” She looked at him with a devilish grin and rose her hands over him teasingly. He raised an eyebrow daring her. She launched into him with wiggling fingers against sensitive skin. He flailed trying to escape her grip while he let out hoots of laughter strangled by yelps.

“No, stop, mercy. I beg of you,” he panted in the midst of her assault. She only laughed more and continued. Breaking free he stood from the chair outstretching a hand, “Truce? I brought you donuts.” She grabbed his hand and let him pull her into the kitchen to divulge in the treat. It’d been a few hours since then and Scott had hung the lights on the outside of her house for her. He disappeared into the kitchen.      

“Tess? Where is the vacuum?” Scott called out. As she folded laundry on the couch she stifled a laugh at the guilt in his voice. Probably another pile of crumbs he found under the counter that miraculously got there with none of his help at all. At least that was the story last week when there was a puddle of water on the kitchen counter accompanied by an “I don’t know how it got there, T.”

“The closet in the front hall,” she called back. Returning home had been uneventful. The feeling of desperation for conversation Tessa felt in the hotel became a fleeting thought that only nagged at her at 2am when she couldn’t sleep. Some nights she was lucky enough to turn over falling onto his beating heart or feel the warmth of an arm around her waist melting away her anxiety.

Jordan was coming in this weekend to stay with Tessa and she wasn’t quite sure what to tell her about the whole _thing_ she and Scott had going on. She wasn’t willing to sleep alone again for an entire week but the alternative, telling Jordan which would mean her whole family and Scott’s too by nature, seemed just as terrifying. They hadn’t even kissed yet or talked about anything. Really, on paper, they were just two best friends who liked to sleep in the same bed. She could hear Jordan already laughing at that line.

Tessa picked up another article of clothing from the hamper and began folding it without looking, still lost in thought. Once folded she looked down, sure to place it in the correct pile; she laughed. That line wouldn’t even work on her. She started a new pile of “Scott clothing,” placing the boxers on an empty space on the couch. 

“What are you laughing at?” Scott came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Jordan’s coming this weekend,” she turned up to look at him, putting a hand on his. She turned her gaze deliberately at the new stack on the couch.

“Ahh…don’t worry about it. I have to go to Toronto Friday and Saturday night anyway. I was going to tell you later today. The guys decided to take the hockey team on the road.”

“I’ll miss you.”

“Me too. I’ll be back Sunday morning and Jordan will be here to keep you company. I’d just be in the way anyhow.”

He was right. The two of them got a little crazy when they were reunited. They’d probably fall asleep in her bed mid-conversation long past when they should be sleeping. Tessa squeezed his hand and let hers drop back to the shirt in her lap waiting to be folded.

“Do you want me to make some lunch while you finish up here?”

“That’d be great.” She took his hand from her shoulder and kissed his palm. He smiled at her and turned back to the kitchen.

She finished the laundry and placed the stacks back into the hamper while Scott clambered in the kitchen. She took the hamper back to her room and put her clothes away. Then, with meticulous selection, she opened a top drawer in her dresser and removed the swimwear. Finding an empty shoebox on the bottom of her closet floor, Tessa temporarily dumped them all in there until she could invest in a better storage method. Turning back to the almost empty hamper she pulled out the small stack with the boxers at the bottom and slipped the clothes into the newly empty drawer.

* * *

“Tess!” Before she could process the voice, her sister’s arms were flinging around her Tessa’s body. Tears sprang up in her eyes and she gave her sister a tight squeeze.

“It’s so good to see you, Jord.” She said pulling back seeing her sister’s eyes matching the wetness in her own.

“You two, little one. It’s been too long.”

“Definitely.” Tessa grabbed the handle of Jordan’s suitcase and swung her other arm around her sister.

“I’m surprised Mom isn’t being more grumpy about me staying with you instead of her.”

“She probably figures she gets you in a few weeks anyway. Besides, my place gets lonely.” Tessa cringed at her own words: lies, lies, lies.

Arriving back at Tessa’s Jordan declared a shower necessary after a much over a day and multiple airports and airplane. She left Tessa on the couch while she washed up. She was glad to have a few moments to herself. Scott was due to get to Toronto any minute and he’d left this morning with a promise whispered against the skin behind her ear to call when he arrived.

She waited impatiently, reshuffled the magazines on the coffee table, fluffed the pillows, adjusted a few picture frames, and lay down on her back on the floor to inspect the ceiling when finally her phone rang.

“Hey,” she answered. She could feel her cheeks burning red but she didn’t care.

“Hey yourself,” he chuckled at the impatience in her voice. “We made it just fine, in the hotel room, ready to go down for lunch before practice with the guys.”

“How was the train in?”

“Easy. I hate trains.” She laughed, knowing it to be true. He’d rather drive anywhere if he could. “How’s Jord? Did you give her a punch from me?”

“Good, in the shower and no. I told you I wouldn’t.”

“Aw, come on, T. You’re no fun.”

“Liar! If I was no fun I don’t think it would have been so hard for you to leave this morning. Do I need to remind you of what you said?” It was the longest they’d been apart since before Skate Canada and getting out of bed this morning had been hard. He took it harder than she did surprisingly and endearingly. His eyes were clouded over with emotion and every time she tried to get out of bed he’d pulled her closer, buried his face deeper in the crook of her neck and whispered, “Five more minutes,” punctuated with a kiss against her skin.

“Umm, no…I remember,” he said into the phone. The noise level on his side of the line went up. “Hey T, I just got back down to the lobby. I gotta go.” To her pleasure, he didn’t sound nearly as upset as he did in her entrance way a few hours ago.

“Have fun. Don’t be stupid.”

“I miss you already. I’ll talk to you soon, okay? Sunday will be here before we know it. I lo--”

“I miss you too,” she cut him off before he could say it, “Hurry home.” Her face hurt from smiling. She hung up and dropped the phone to the carpet beside her with a contented sigh. She’d tell him when he got back, whisper the words against his skin, write them in notes to tape on his fridge. She closed her eyes and let the warmth of _them_ seep through her body.

“Your house is lonely, huh Tessa? Then who needs to hurry home?” Jordan stood above her with a teasing smirk, her hands firmly on her hips.

“No one,” she blushed an even deeper red, grabbed her phone, and jumped up from the floor before Jordan could trap her there. She dashed across the room giggling.

“Who do you ‘miss too’ Tessa Virtue?” Jordan ran after her, holding the towel wrapping her wet hair on her head. They chased each other around the kitchen and living room laughing at each other. Rounding the kitchen island Tessa let out a scream as Jordan caught her. At just that moment the doorbell rang and Tessa was saved.

“I’m going to find out before I leave.” She said letting her go to answer the door.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about and neither do you,” Tessa said pointedly. “That would be Mom.” She hoped Jordan got the point; stay quiet while Mom’s here and maybe if you’re lucky I’ll tell you.  

Sure enough Jordan did remain quiet, mercilessly mentioning though, that Tessa needed to find a boyfriend soon to which her mother vehemently agreed. Tessa had not so subtly kicked Jordan under the table after that remark. She was glad she left her phone in her pocket the entire visit seeing as Scott had sent her an entire strand of heart and kissy face emojis. He must have been bored. She sent him a picture of “his” pillow with a sad emoji before getting in the shower.

When she got out Jordan was sitting cross legged on her bed waiting for her. Tessa pretended not to notice trying to avoid the mischievous look she could feel Jordan giving her. She pulled open her pajama drawer and slipped them half expecting Jordan to have past out from the jetlag by the time she turned around again. She was still awake and patting mattress begging Tessa to join her. She flopped down on the bed waiting for her to say something first.

“If you won’t talk now just know tomorrow I will get it out of you,” Jordan yawned and put her arm around her sister. Tessa shifted and laid her head on Jordan’s thigh. Jordan ran her hand through Tessa’s wet hair and smiled down at her. Her eyes were heavy with a familiar jetlag. By the time they woke up in the morning, Jordan wouldn’t remember anything that they talked about now.   

“I don’t even know where to start. One day it was nothing and the next it was everything. We haven’t talked about it at all. I don’t know if I want to.” She admitted playing with the sleeves on her pajama top, taking advantage of knowing Jordan’s exhausted state.

“When did it start?”

“Sometime a long time ago over a glass of chocolate milk.” She smiled fondly. Jordan chuckled, her eyes were barely open.

“In early October he came over for dinner and I ended up falling asleep during the movie we were watching. He carried me to bed and then stayed.”

“Stayed in bed with you?”

“Yes. And it kinda was perfect and scary but everything.”

“Did it happen again?”

“No.” She felt Jordan’s body deflate and began laughing.

“Not funny!” She smacked at Tessa’s back playfully.

“Yes, it is. Would I be telling him to hurry home if it only happened once?”

“Well, keep talking then!”

“It didn’t happen again for the rest of the month. We kept doing things together, more and more often but that line was never crossed until after Skate Canada. We came home and didn’t look back. He’s either here or I’m at his place every night. We haven’t been apart for more than a few hours until this weekend.”

“And how far have things gone?”

“Jordan!”

“What?! You did Carmen after all…” Tessa forgot how much she loved jetlagged Jordan. All filters were completely thrown out the window and with them flew Tessa’s inhibitions.

“We haven’t even kissed yet.”

“Had he told you he loves you?”

“Not since things changed. It’s only been a few weeks since this all really started. It’s too soon.”

“And 18 years…” Jordan fell into a deep sleep the last words falling off into her soft snores. Tessa laughed and took the moment to talk about it anyway. The suffocation had lessened over the past few weeks and the easy domesticity they had fallen into.  

“Yeah but, it’s different now. We’re just…us. It’s better than I ever imagined it would be. We’re not rushing things. He’s really great, Jord. Last week, we went to see the Christmas lights in the park. He held my hand the whole time. I always thought it wouldn’t be as exciting, being together, because we’ve been best friends for so long but it is. It’s magical. And every night, falling asleep together, there’s nothing like it. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you soon. I’m going to tell him when he gets back. Tell him I’m in love with him.”

Tessa snuggled in closer to her sister and shut her eyes against the lamp light. She deeply breathed in the familiar scent of family, thankful for someone so close to share her secrets with even if she didn’t hear a word she said. Soon Tessa’s eyes became too heavy and the light too bright. Her phone buzzed on the nightstand, she turned over in the bed flicking the switch on the lamp off and grabbed her phone.

_I’ll be there when you want me, some way, somehow oh baby there ain’t no mountain high enough <3_

She smiled and plugged her phone in, turning back into her sister’s side and dreaming of the impossible ways life could possibly get more perfect. There were none.

* * *

The rest of the weekend passed easily and much too quick for either of the girl’s liking despite Tessa’s initial apprehension. On Saturday after a day of shopping they fell asleep on the couch in ridiculous unicorn onesies they’d found on sale with the TV still on and ice cream bowls getting sticky on the coffee table. That was the site that greeted Scott that Sunday morning. Once again, he snapped a picture; he’d accumulated quite the collection of sleeping Tessa on his phone. He sent it to both their phones before switching off the TV and picking up the two bowls.

He set out in the kitchen at making breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes which he knew the Virtue sisters loved. He was humming quietly and pouring batter into the pan for the second pancake when Tessa stirred from the couch. She stood and turned toward the kitchen confused with her unicorn hood falling forward and covering one of her eyes. As soon as she saw him her face lit up and she was running. He barely had enough time to stop pouring the batter before she launched herself into his arms.

“God I missed you. Don’t ever leave me again.”

“I didn’t go anywhere. You were the one who left.” She laughed and he was sure everything in the world was exactly as it should be again. Pulling back he brought his hands up to cup her cheeks.

“Dumbest idea ever. I’m never leaving again. That was torture.”

“It was two days.”

“Two days too long and you so missed me too.” He leaned forward and kissed her nose. She hummed, nuzzling his cheek with hers. They looked ridiculous, he was sure of it but his face was buried in her neck and she smelled deliciously like home so he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Lifting his head from her shoulder he pushed back the ridiculous unicorn horn letting the hood fall against her back. He cradled her head in his hands and let their foreheads fall together.

“I’m going to kiss you.” It was quite possibly the dumbest thing he’d said but when he brought his mouth to hers, their lips meeting somewhat awkwardly in this new dance he couldn’t remember the words. He moved his hands into her hair and pulled her closer. She nipped at his lower lip and he opened his mouth for her. It was all consuming, so full of emotions more free than any time before.

The smell of burning pancakes quickly ruined the moment and he tore away from Tessa to flip the now crispy pancake. He turned to her with big eyes and she was laughing again, like nothing had changed. She kissed him one last time and turned walking around the island to sit and watch. Jordan laid back down on the couch covering her mouth with her hand to stifle the squeals she was sure would come out otherwise. She counted to 100  four times before staging her “wake-up.”

* * *

Christmas songs were playing over the speakers and there was a growing pile of presents scattering her living room floor. Tessa felt accomplished, all of the gifts she needed to buy were already bought with a week to spare. It’d been surprisingly easy this year, but maybe that had to do with the openness in their schedule without skating and grand prix finals to worry about.

They’d picked up the final gifts while out today and decided the tree looked lonely without anything beneath it and had settled in on the floor to wrap things. Scott had bought a different wrapping paper than she did, both deciding that arriving and leaving together to the Virtue/Moir gathering would cause enough stir as is let alone their gifts in the same paper.

With Jordan’s depature late Monday afternoon she had promised them both not to say anything to anyone. Soon after they’d given her the last hugs goodbye their phones chimed with a stream of images. Tessa may or may not have sent back an angry text swearing to tell all her secrets if Jordan didn’t keep the pictures private. Tessa may or may not have also bought a new multi-photo frame and printed out the pictures and hung it on her bedroom wall. Scott texted a picture to Jordan as soon as it went up and she sent back a winky face.

“Tess, can you pass the tape?” His pile of gifts was left to the one in his hands waiting for the tape and despite her inner competitor, who wanted to finish before him, she passed the tape and he smiled gratuitously. She justified that hers were better wrapped than his. He taped the corners down and slid the present under the tree and smirked at her, “I won.”

“Good, you can help with mine.”

“No can do,” he stood from the floor stretching, “unless you plan on skating on the driveway it’s going to need salting,” she pouted out her lip in reply. “Besides, yours look much more beautiful than mine.” He bent down and kissed her.

She watched him walk away and open her front closet and pull out his coat, gloves and hat. He slipped into his boots and pulled open the door. The crisp winter air blew threw and hit her cheeks. She turned back to the gifts left to be wrapped, finishing rather quickly without the distraction of Scott sitting across from her.

She rearranged his pile under the tree to look nice, mixing his with hers so the wrapping papers blended together rather than looking like a segregated lump on each side of the tree. She could hear the shovel scraping against the driveway still like it was the way things had always been.

Tessa made hot chocolate for the two of them. The door clicked open just as she was pouring it from the pot into their mugs, yes, Scott had his own at her place, an S to match her T, even if he complained about it in the store when she bought the set.

“How’s it look out there?” she sat down on the couch, leaving room for him between herself and the corner. He took the mug and snuggled in pulling the blanket from the back of the couch and over their laps.

“Like we’ll be waking up to fresh snow in the morning, and a lot of it.” He smiled excitedly at her. Among their purchases today had been a sleigh, one he was dying to bring to the park up the street and try out.

“Perfect.” She tucked her head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her waist. The drank in comfortable silence for a few minutes, letting the day seep from them and into some place far below. It was just them, in their perfect little world they’d created. She finished her drink and smiled as he took the mug from her and set it next to his on the corner table.

Readjusting himself on the couch, his hand slid under her shirt and onto her stomach, cold against her warm skin,“Scott!”

“What? I’m cold, you’re hot,” he said and waggled his eyebrows impressed by his own double entendre. She huffed. He kissed her.

“Good thing I love you,” she said pulling away from his lips. He looked at her, his eyes wide and glistening.

“I love you too,” he said. Simply. Surprisingly simply like it wasn’t the first time, like it didn’t just open up the whole world to them. She settled back against him and slid her hands under the blanket and up her shirt to intertwine their fingers together on her stomach. “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” played in the background.

* * *

“Are you and my little sister officially together yet, Scott?”

“Jordan!” Scott’s cheeks burned red and his eyes scanned the room. “Why would you say that?” He tried to sound casual to cover up his initial outburst. It wasn’t an uncommon question but his reaction was a bit much.

It was late in the evening and both families had been slowly bidding tired good-byes and bundling up to brave the snow. There was smooth Christmas jazz floating quietly through the room. He had a perfect view from his perch at the kitchen counter into the dimmed sitting room illuminated by the Christmas tree lights, scattered candles, and the glow of the fireplace. By the tree Tessa was holding his niece, the two swaying back and forth and giggling.

“First of all, you’re smiling like a fool watching her,” Jordan added under her breath, “although that’s nothing new.”

“Definitely admiring the decorations, Jord. Your mom really went all out this year, the tree, the new lights and the village with the fake snow, and a few new Santa Clauses…”

“Ahem,” she cleared her throat breaking his nervous ramblings. “Back to the subject, since I’ve been in town you’ve gone on about 6 dates together and had ‘sleep-overs’ the 3 other days, not to mention my last visit…” Jordan raised her eyebrows at him over her hot chocolate and smiled daring him to disagree.

“I would hardly consider grocery shopping a date…Wait! How do you know all that?”

“Why were you grocery shopping together?!”

“We needed lunch! It turned into a full trip…”

“Interesting but I don’t quite believe you.”

“Jord, it’s really good, you know that,” Scott sighed and pleaded with his faux-sister, “what we have right now. I don’t know what it is but it’s good.”

“Are you two ever going to sort this out?” Jordan’s voice softened, “You love each other. You spend almost all your time together as is. Why not finally make it official? It’s all you’ve both wanted for years.”

“Who says we haven’t already? What we have, it’s everything. I’m so in love with her.” He shifted in his seat and tried to push down his emotions, something about these Virtue girls.

“Look.” Tessa was handing off his sleeping niece to his brother with a smile. “Why don’t you go have a dance?” The Moir and Virtue brothers were packing up their cars and giving hugs to parents in the entry way leaving the sitting room quite empty. Scott wanted nothing more than to hold Tessa in his arms to end the night.  

Jordan rubbed his shoulder and moved around the island to work on the dishes left by the sink. When Scott didn’t make a move to get up she flicked water at him and shooed him out of the kitchen.

Turning into the sitting room Tessa’s back was to Scott. She swayed in front of the fire place looking at the photos scattering the mantle tucked behind the lit sprigs evergreen and above the same stockings that had hung over the fire for as long as Scott could remember. As quietly as possible Scott crossed the room and took her in his arms from behind swaying them as one to the soft music.

“Hey, I’ve missed you” she sighed letting her head drop back onto his shoulder. She intertwined their fingers together on her stomach and turned her head to look up at him. Her eyes sparkled in the low glow of the room.

“I’ve been here the whole time, Tess,” he said, whispering the words against her skin.

“Yeah, but, not like this.” She squeezed his hands and tilted her head up pressing a kiss against his jaw. He hummed in agreement letting his head fall against her lips.

“Did you have fun tonight?”

“Almost perfect.” She lifter her face and gave him a mischievous smile.

“Almost?”

“There’s just one thing missing,” Tessa turned in his arms and wrapped hers around his neck playing with the hairs at the nape of his neck. She looked up slow and deliberately at the ceiling above them making sure Scott was following her line of sight. Sure enough, a sprig of green hung just above their heads. She smiled hesitantly at Scott, whispered “Merry Christmas,” and stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips.

It wasn’t the most romantic kisses but it was them, lips moving lazily together, knowing they had all the time in the world. Tessa’s hands wove into Scott’s hair at the back of his head and his found home, holding her close, one at the small of her back and the other cradling her cheek, his finger tips tangled in her hair.

It was short but long and consuming enough that neither noticed as their parents came back in from sending off their brothers. Neither noticed Jordan wave her hands at the parents and press a finger to their mouth signaling them to remain quiet. Or her dad pull down a bottle of champagne and fill flutes with the celebratory liquid. It would be another week before either would know of the pictures taken of them in their embrace sent by Jordan, with a promise that no one else saw. Years later though, they would remember the feeling of giving that final piece of their heart up to the other.


End file.
